Machine for canceling mail-matter.



1. P. OLEAL 11 J. G. FLETCHER.

MACHINE FOR OANOELING MAIL MATTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17, 1910.

Patented July 25 1911.

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J. P. OLEAL & J. G. FLETCHER. MACHINE FOR GANGELING MAIL MATTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17, 1910. 999,009, PatentedJuly 25, 1911.

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J. P. GLEAL 6: J. GJ FLETCHER. MACHINE POE GANGELING MAIL MATTER.

APPLICATION nLnp mm: 17-, 1910.

999,009. Patented July 25, 1911.

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COLUMIIA WRAP" 00-. WASHINGTON; D- C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH P. CLEAL, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, AND JAMES GILMORE FLETCHER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR CANCELING MAIL-MATTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1911.

Original application filed October 23, 1908, Serial No. 459,227. Divided and this application filed June 17, 1910. Serial No. 567,435.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOSEPH P. CLEAL, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and JAMES GILMORE FLEToHER, a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Canceling Mail-Matter; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention relates to numbering mechanism for use in connection with machines for canceling letters or other mail matter, the present application forming a division of an application filed by us on the 23rd day of October, 1908, Serial No. 459,227.

The object of the present invention is to provide for the numbering of the letters consecutively and to guard against the operation of the numbering device in case the letter should not pass through the machine, whereby .we issue the proper numbering of the mail matter in succession. To these ends we provide means for operating the numbering device which means is operative bv the piece of mail matter fed thereto.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View of the stamp canceling machine to which our invention is applied; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the printing rolls; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of one of the rolls; Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view of one-half of the sub-case removed; Figs. 5 and 6 are sectional views of the printing rolls showing our improved mechanism during the passage of the letter through the rolls; Fig. 7 is a detail of the shaft carrying the numbering wheels; Figs. 8 and 9 are details of same; Fig. 10 is an enlarged detail of the stirrup frame; and Fig. 11 is a detail of the pawl.

As stated above, we have illustrated our invention in connection with a machine for canceling mail matter for which we have filed an application for Letters Patent, and in Fig. 1 we have illustrated the essential parts of this machine in which the numerals 3 and 4 designate the printing rolls arranged one above the other, the stationary roll 3 being adapted to rotate in suitable bearings in the frame. The roll 4 is arranged to have the up and down movement toward and from the roll 3. The roll 4 is supplied with ink from. the ink fountain 7 and felt roll 8 moving in contact with the felt wick 7 and the ink is transmitted from the roll 8 by means of a combination roll 9 to the printing roll 4.

The mail matter to be canceled is carried in the feed box 1 and mechanism is provided for feeding the mail piece by piece to the rolls 3 and 4. In order to hold the mail matter in proper position to be advanced to the feed rolls one at a time, We employ the gravity device 2, which is mounted to move up and down in the guide 2*. Friction rollers 2 are mounted in the guide to relieve the friction and at the lower end of the gravity device 2 is the roller 2 which bears against the top of the package or group of envelops. Beneath the feed box 1 are the feed-bars 19 which are adapted to move back and. forth in the frame 19 and said bars carry the needle-head 34 which is pivoted as at 36. The needle-head 34 rests on the stop pin 37 and is held in this position by the spring 38. It will be apparent that the forward and backward movement of the feed bars 19 will cause the needles of the needlehead 34 to trail back over the lower face of the envelop on the return movement of the feed-bars; while on the advance movement the said needles will act to move the lowermost envelop from the package contained in the feed-boxes and carry the same forward in position where the end of the envelop will be caught by the action of the printing-roll 4 coming in contact with the roll 3.

To provide for the reciprocating of the feed-bars 19, we employ the feed-bar link 20 which is connected to the crank disk 21. by the wrist-pin 32. In this way reciprocating movement is imparted to the link 20 and by the link 33 to the feed-bars 19. Power is transmitted to the crank-disk 21 by means of the gears 22 one of which is mounted on the shaft 17 and transmits its motion to the upper gear 22 The inside hub of the upper gear 22 is made fast to crank-disk 21, said gear and crank-disk running loosely upon a stud made fast in the frame. The printing-rolls 3 and 4 are made hollow and the ends plugged in such a manner as to admit of shafts being passed through holes in the plugs concentric with the periphery of the printing rolls. As our invention relates only to the consecutive numbering device, we will confine ourselves to this particular feature.

A sub-case P is inserted within the roll a and this sub-case carries the changeable designating marks such as the printing wheels carrying the numbers of the consecutive numbering device. There are four of these numbering wheels which are designated by the numerals 50, 51, 52, and 53, all mounted on the shaft 93 from which they turn freely. Each printing wheel is provided with the ratchet 54. The ratchets on the wheels 51, 52, and 53 are each provided with a deep notch, the notch of each succeeding wheel being slightly deeper than the preceding one. At one end of the shaft 93 is the turnback knob 94. The shaft 93 is provided with the spline way 55 to receive the turn-back pawls 95 mounted on the wheels, and which are held in position by the springs 96. These springs press against said turn-back pawls and allow the printing wheels to turn in the proper direction to print, and if the ,turnback knob is turned in the same direction it causes the spline way 55 to pick up the printing wheels and turn them back to zero or their initial position.

It will be noticed that the printing wheels turn in the one direction whether to print or when turned by the shaft to their original position. The mechanism to operate the consecutive number printing wheels consists of the stirrup frame 98 one part of which swings free on the shaft 93. The driving A pawl 99 is spring actuated by the spring 99 and this pawl has four prongs which engage the ratchets 54. The retaining pawls 101 are actuated by springs 101", so as to press against the ratchets in such a manner as to hold them in such position that the printing wheels will always be in position to print the proper designating numbers. The camlever 102 is journaled on the shaft 93 and the free end of said cam lever protrudes beyond the periphery of the printing roll at. The lower part of the cam-lever 102 encircles the stud pin 104 carried by the operating arm 105 one end of which is journaled fast to the frame or sub-case at 106, while the free end of said arm encircles the free end of 106 of the stirrup stud 98. It is obvious that if the free end of the cam-lever 102 is forced inward with respect to this position in the printing roll l, it will move the various parts so as to cause the driving pawl 99 to act upon its corresponding ratchet and move it one space. l/Vhen the first of the wheels has been revolved until the driving pawl 99 will drop in the tenth or deep notch, the second prong of the driving pawl 99 will catch in the shallow notch of the wheel and advance it one space. The second wheel moves when the first wheel has completed the revolution, and when said second wheel has completed the revolution the third prong of the driving pawl 99 will drop into a notch of the proper ratchet causing it to be moved on one space, and so on to the end. It will be noticed that the contact points of the pawl 99 are graduated, one being a trifle longer than the other, the first prong being the longest. The ratchets are of the same size and the notches of the ratchets are of the same depth with the exception of the deep notch in each of the three ratchets which allows the driving pawl 99 to drop down far enough to catch the wheel to be operated. hen the deep notches are in line the driving pawl 99 will drop down and carry all the printing wheels to their initial posit-ions. It will be obvious that the consecutive numbering device is capable of advanc ing from zero to 9999 before returning to its initial position. To bring this device to this initial position the spring 107 is wound around a sleeve 93 on the shaft 93 one end of said spring being connected to the stirrup frame 98. This spring forces the stirrup frame 98 in an outward direction which in turn compels the cam-lever 102 to extend to its utmost limit beyond the roll 4: through the slot 103. The printing roll 3 has a slot 103 in which the cam-lever 102 works freely as the printing rolls 3 and 4t revolve. If, however, a letter or other object passes between the printing rolls 3 and 4- and in the path of the cam-lever 102 the obstruction will prevent the cam-lever from entering the slot 103 in the printing roll 3 and instead of main taining its position, it will be compelled to move down until its outer edge is flush with the periphery of the printing roll 4:. This movement of the cam-lever through the mechanism described will operate the con secutive numbering wheels one space each time the obstruction closes the slot 103 in the printing roll 3. In this manner the consecutive numbering device will only operate when an envelop or other object is fed between the printing rolls 3 and 4.

Instead of the printing wheels printing the number on the envelop each time they may simply act as a registering device and an inspection of same will show how many pieces of mail matter have passed through the machine.

Any suitable power may be employed for operating the machine and we do not limit ourselves to any particular form of motor or any device although we prefer to operate the machine electrically.

lVhat we claim is:

1. In mail marking apparatus, the combination of impressing members through which the mail matter passes, a consecutive numbering printing device carried by one of said members, a yielding member protruding from said numbering printing device, said numbering printing device operative upon the yielding of same, and one of said impressing members having a recess to receive said yielding member.

2. In mail marking apparatus, the combination with a suitable frame, suitable power means, of constantly revolving printing rolls driven thereby,'a numbering printing device within and projecting beyond the circumference of one of said rolls, means for impressing said numbering printing device on the mail matter, and means for operating said numbering printing device by the passage of the mail matter through said rolls.

3. In mail marking apparatus, the combination with a suitable frame, suitable power means, of constantly revolving printing rolls driven thereby, a numbering printing device within and projecting beyond the circumference of one of said rolls, and means for independently operating said numbering printing device by the pieces of mail matter passing through said rolls.

4. In mail marking apparatus, the combination with a suitable frame, of a-power shaft, rolls driven thereby, a consecutive numbering device within and projecting beyond the circumference of one of said rolls, and means for operating said numbering device only when a piece of mail matter passes through said rolls.

5. In mail marking apparatus, the combination with a suitable frame, of a power shaft, rolls driven thereby, a consecutive numbering device carried by one of said rolls, mechanism for operating said consecutive numbering device, one member of said mechanism protruding beyond the circumference of said roll, said second roll having an opening to receive said member, and 4 means for closing said opening by the piece of mail matter passing through said roll.

6. In mail marking apparatus, the combination with a suitable frame, of a power shaft, rolls driven thereby, a consecutive numbering device comprising a plurality of rotary wheels bearing numbers, ratchet and pawl mechanism for operating said Wheels,

a yielding member protruding beyond the circumference of one of said rolls, connections between said yielding member and said ratchet and pawl mechanism for operating said wheels, and the other roll having an opening to receive said yielding member, and means for closing said opening by the passage of a piece of mail matter through said rolls.

In testimony whereof, we the said JOSEPH P. CLEAL and JAMES GILMORE FLETCHER have hereunto set our hands.

JOSEPH P. CLEAL. JAMES GILMORE FLETCHER.

Witnesses as to Joseph P. Cleal:

D. S. TOV'ELL, H. M. CRISTMAN. Witnesses as to James Gilmore Fletcher:

JOHN L. HOFNER, M. E. STUDER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

